Posted February 19, 200817 yr Feb 19, 12:03 PM EST USA ITunes to Carry `American Idol' Songs New York Post.com CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) -- "American Idol" fans will be able to download their favorite performances thanks to a new agreement between the Fox talent show and Apple Inc. Performances by "Idol" semifinalists go on sale on iTunes this week for 99 cents per song, the show's producers and Cupertino-based Apple announced Monday. Full video of the top 12 contestants will be available through the online music store starting March 11 for $1.99. The songs and videos will be posted to iTunes the day after the show airs. Do you think this is a good or a bad idea?
February 19, 200817 yr Author From MTV USA News Daily..... The producers of "American Idol" have teamed up with Apple's iTunes Store, giving "Idol" fans the chance to purchase music by their favorite contestants before the show's winner is crowned. Starting this week, iTunes will offer downloads of every performance from the top 24 semifinalists, for 99 cents; full videos of the final 12 contestants will be offered for $1.99 beginning March 12. iTunes will also allow customers to pre-order tracks from a given contestant for automatic download the day after "Idol" airs. One-click access to the store is being made available from the show's official Web site.
February 19, 200817 yr A good idea in terms of making money. I wonder if Simon Cowell will do it with The X Factor in the UK
February 19, 200817 yr Author A good idea in terms of making money. I wonder if Simon Cowell will do it with The X Factor in the UK That is exactly my thoughts/fears....
February 19, 200817 yr That's a great idea. I always download the X Factor performances I like anyway, I know a website that posts them, which means I probably wouldn't buy them myself. However, I don't know if it would be a good idea in terms of what it might do to the charts. The X Factor favourite might end up with a #1 every week which would be bad because someone could end up with 9/10 #1 singles before the competition is even over, not to mention the sort of backlash I can imagine the already established artists having. They would complain over how unfair it is for these people to be getting hit singles by performing on one show. So I think that if this happened the singles would have to be ineligible to chart, assuming that isn't what is going to happen anyway. Edited February 19, 200817 yr by Adi_Gallia
February 20, 200817 yr A good idea in terms of making money. I wonder if Simon Cowell will do it with The X Factor in the UK if he does the charts are just ruined *shudder*
February 20, 200817 yr Feb 19, 12:03 PM EST Do you think this is a good or a bad idea? That is like the strangest question. I mean how on earth that would be a bad idea? It is like asking is it a good idea to release a new Mariah Carey/Madonna/Usher or anyone else's song as a digital download. What could there possibly be wrong with this? Edited February 20, 200817 yr by JackJones
February 20, 200817 yr That is like the strangest question. I mean how on earth that would be a bad idea? It is like asking is it a good idea to release a new Mariah Carey/Madonna/Usher or anyone else's song as a digital download. What could there possibly be wrong with this? That's a perfectly legimiate question because it's a c**p idea unless they are deemed inelligible to chart. Tons of performances could end up top 10, even possibly #1, completely ruining the charts.
February 20, 200817 yr wasnt this always available? or was it only available from the official site. Oh well at least, i can now download the best performances ^_^
February 20, 200817 yr What I wonder is are these singers getting anything out of this? I would doubt it. They probably all signed contracts indicating Cowell will get every penny of every download until they sign a record deal at the end of the show.
February 20, 200817 yr What I wonder is are these singers getting anything out of this? I would doubt it. They probably all signed contracts indicating Cowell will get every penny of every download until they sign a record deal at the end of the show. I'm pretty sure it will be Cowell raking in all the money if this happens. I doubt the performers will profit from this. The only problem with this is that if they are eligible to chart it kind of ruins the whole point of the show. Any of the more popular contestants could have a string of top 40 hits without even winning the show and the idea is to find a new talent for the charts.
February 21, 200817 yr That's a perfectly legimiate question because it's a c**p idea unless they are deemed inelligible to chart. Tons of performances could end up top 10, even possibly #1, completely ruining the charts. But shouldn't the charts be about what people buy? So if loads of people download AI song then it deserves to chart just like any other song. Is it any different than Mariah Carey going to Oprah and bunch of other high-profile talk shows (or even American Idol) to perform her new song and getting a huge boost to her sales thanks to a tv show? So you b**ch about people buying a song from AI contestant and getting the song into charts but probably don't see anything wrong with someone like Mariah Carey going to AI to perform her new song in order to get the AI viewers to buy the song...sounds ridiculous. It is so ridiculous that people keep complaining that this or that song shouldn't chart because if people buy it then it should be eligible to chart. I see the problem being the ridiculous re-current rules that actually stop songs (like Rehab) and cds (like Thriller anniversary) to chart and therefore gives a false picture of the charts. And c'mon, there is NO chance that an AI song could top the charts without something really bizarre happening (like the singer dying of a heart attack on stage after the performance). The song would have to sell over 250k at least to top the charts and now only the most hyped releases by big stars can do that with belated release after weeks of airplay. And there is nothing new about this anyways, if I remember correctly they did this already last year, the only two differences being that this year they have not only the songs from the finals but also from the semifinals for download and they seem to promote this more. So nothing really have changed since last year, did someone think the AI downloads destroyed the charts last year? I very much doubt that so what's up with the hysteria and bitching this year? Edited February 21, 200817 yr by JackJones
February 21, 200817 yr I'm pretty sure it will be Cowell raking in all the money if this happens. I doubt the performers will profit from this. The only problem with this is that if they are eligible to chart it kind of ruins the whole point of the show. Any of the more popular contestants could have a string of top 40 hits without even winning the show and the idea is to find a new talent for the charts. I bet the contestants won't be getting much anything financially but I think the promotion if the most important thing for them. Now it is not just one performance and that's it but if people like it they will download it and play it for friends and so on and more people get to know you and people will remember your performance longer. Like I stated above, if the downloads sell enough the songs should be able to chart. And what is wrong with contestants scoring top 40 hits without winning the show? Yes, the point of the show is to find new talent but it doesn't mean that the winner is the only one with talent (that seems to be what you are implying in your post when you say that the point is to find new talent to the charts but you oppose the fact that others than the winner gets hits). And TBH, the charts are already half-full with talentless bints so pretty much anyone making into AI final 12 surely has more talent than those acts and a totally fair right to chart. And people worrying that these AI downloads will get to no 1 and fill the whole top ten, that's ridiculous, last year even the winner couldn't get into top 10 and when Carrie Underwood won she only topped the charts thanks to her physical sales since her downloads were very low so people are worrying about something that simply won't happen. The simple fact is that if enough people like the song to buy it, it should be able to chart. Period. Edited February 21, 200817 yr by JackJones
February 21, 200817 yr I hope the Hot 100 isn't going to be flooded with Idol performances every week.
February 23, 200817 yr Ok, no worries for anyone fearing how this will affect the hot 100. It will have no influence whatsoever because I-Tunes will not reveal the sales numbers for any of the tracks according to Billboard. American Idol doesn't reveal the voting figures and to avoid people making conclusions about popularity of the singers based on sales figures no sales will be published and therefore there will be no effect whatsoever for the hor 100 chart.
February 24, 200817 yr I think it's a great idea and don't worry, all the songs are ineligible to chart - it says so on the AI page on the US iTunes Store. :)
February 24, 200817 yr Even if these songs were allowed to chart on the hot 100 they wouldn't make it very far because they wouldnt have radio play to help sustain their chart runs. Even if they did chart fairly high they'd plummet in the weeks coming.
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